Delhi High Court refuses to stay streaming of movie about Sushant Singh Rajput; says his privacy rights died with him

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to pass any injunction order against against the movie 'Nyay: The Justice' based on the life of late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput [Krishna Kishore Singh v Sarla A Saraogi & Ors]. .Justice C Hari Shankar said that Rajput's personality rights as well as rights of privacy and publicity got extinguished with his death and these rights are not inheritable to be espoused by his father. The Court therefore, rejected a plea by Rajput's father Krishna Kishore Singh seeking a stay on the continued streaming of the film on an Over-The-Top (OTT) platform called Lapalap Original. The movie was released in June 2021. "The information contained, and shown, in the impugned film, is entirely derived from items which featured in the media and, therefore, constitute publicly available information. In making a film on the basis thereof, it could not, therefore, be said that the defendants had violated any right of SSR, much less of the plaintiff, especially as the said information had not been questioned or challenged when it appeared in the media, either by SSR or by the plaintiff. Nor were the defendants required to obtain the consent of the plaintiff before making the movie," the Court observed. .In a detailed order, Justice Hari Shankar said that even if it is assumed that the film does infract the publicity rights of Rajput or defames him, the infracted right is personal to the actor, and cannot be said to have been inherited by his father."Besides, the movie being based on information in the public domain, which, at the time of its original dissemination, was never challenged or questioned, cannot be sought to be injuncted at this distance of time, especially when it has already been released on the Lapalap platform a while ago and must have been seen, by now, by thousands," the Court said. .The Court concluded that it cannot pass an order to stop the streaming of this movie especially when it has already been released and must have been seen by thousands of people. "The movie cannot be said to be infracting Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India. Injuncting further dissemination of the movie would, therefore, infract the defendants‘ rights under Article 19(1)(a)," the Court concluded. .Concept of 'Celebrity Rights'.In a detailed order, Justice Hari Shankar also dealt with issue of of 'celebrity rights' as claimed by Rajput's father. He said that he cannot agree with the decisions of other High Courts recognising the concept. The Bench observed that the concept of 'celebrity rights', as a distinct compendium of rights available only to celebrities is, legally unacceptable. "I have not come across any judicial authority, having binding precedential value on me, which lends judicial recognition to "celebrity rights". It does not appear permissible, in our constitutional scheme, which guarantees equality to individuals, and in which equality is a cherished preambular goal, to countenance an "extra" bundle of rights which would be available for enjoyment only to celebrities," the Court said.The Bench further said that the law cannot allow itself to be a vehicle to promote celebrity culture and rights that emanate from one‘s personality, and persona, would be available to one and all, and not only to celebrities. "Celebrities, oftentimes, spring into being overnight, and vanish from the public eye just as quickly. Who can forget Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail, the child actors who played the young lead performers in the celebrated 'Slumdog Millionaire‘ who, after an evening of glory, were found to have returned to the Mumbai slums, enmeshed in a spate of controversies? To fasten a legal right on something as fleeting as celebrity status, to my mind, appears an oxymoron.".Advocates Varun Singh, Akshay Dev, Ytharth Kumar, Alankriti Diwedi, Parul Sharma, Atif, Himanshu Yadav, Kajal Gupta and Smriti Wadhwa appeared for the plaintiff, Krishna Kishore Singh. Senior Advocate Chander M Lall along with advocates Bhushan M Oza, Anand Mishra, Vedanta Verma, Akhil Kumar and Ananya appeared for the producers and directors of the film. Advocate Vibhor Kush appeared for the writer of the mvoie. .[Read Judgment]